Desert Survival Series Pt 3- Moses the Man of God — Don Courville

I believe this is going to be a very key study for us as we go through this. I did something this week while I was traveling that I normally don't do. I listened to the first two messages on this. And I normally don't like to listen to myself, but I thought, well, I better do it.

Just maybe I need to improve on some things. And I do need to improve on my stuttering. Don't stutter so much and use, uh, don't use that too much and things. But, uh, I was encouraging that God just seemed to minister to my own heart from the word as I listened to it.

Moses, the Man of God, in the Exodus Narrative

And that's what we want. Moses, the man of God. And this is our desert survival series. Chapter, uh, two of Exodus is where we're at today. And I'll give you a little bit of introduction after we have a word of prayer.

Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, our eyes are on you. We do not look at the circumstances. These things will distract us. We see a lot of people gone on Sunday. We realize that, uh, there's reasons for this.

And maybe sometimes there's, there's a warfare going on and Satan has distracted or diverted somebody from these messages. I believe that when, Father, you give us a message, you, you send along a message to us that Satan will try to keep us away from it.

And as these first messages are so important, so foundational for this study, uh, we believe that there'll be many times where we'll be, uh, drawn away. But I pray that this morning your word would work, the power of your spirit would work, that you would sustain my voice, and that you would be lifted up.

Teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ, how important he is, and how important the ministry of the spirit is in our lives along with the word. For we yield ourselves to you. I yield myself afresh, my voice to you.

And our minds, may our minds be focused in on what you have to say. Not on the speaker, not on distractions, but on you. For it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. I gave you a definition of exodus. How many of you remember what it was?

Anybody remember? The definition of exodus, which we're studying in the book of Exodus, will be in Numbers and some in Deuteronomy. Exodus means the way out. The way out. But it's also the way out of something.

The way out of what? It's the way out of bondage. It's the way out of bondage. And, uh, I was thinking about Jesus when he was dealing with, uh, some of the Pharisees in John 8, 31 down through, uh, 34.

In that passage, one of the things they said was, we are, we're not in bondage. Jesus was talking to them. It said many of them, uh, believed on him. And Jesus turned to those Jews which believed on him and he says, if you continue in my word, he says, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples.

Indeed. In other words, if you don't continue in my word, you're not a disciple. You'll follow a trend, you'll follow a philosophy, you'll follow a cult, or you'll follow something. And you won't be my disciple.

You'll be somebody's disciple. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. To follow the word, the truth will make you free. And then they answered him and they said, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage.

To any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? One of the interesting things about bondage is, you can be in a bondage to something and not even know it. And they were. They were in bondage right then.

And the thing about it, they said, we've never been in bondage. And they had been in bondage many times. They had been in this Egyptian bondage even. How come they didn't remember about that? What about the Babylonian bondage?

But they had been in bondage. But the spiritual bondage is the thing that Jesus came to set us free from. So it's the way out of bondage. They were in bondage spiritually and also physically. And God's going to deliver them from both.

Redemption by Blood and Power

Now the message of Exodus is redemption. Exodus is a book of redemption. Redemption has to do with release. Again, freedom from the bondage. It's redemption by blood. You remember, when they got ready to go, the last plague was dealing with death.

And God told Moses, you tell the people, you put the blood from the lamb on the doorpost. And that will secure your freedom. Your freedom from death. As the death angel came and the firstborn of every family was struck.

The Bible says in Leviticus 17 .11 that the life of the flesh is in the blood. And he says, I have given it to you upon the altar. I've given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the souls.

And of course we know that when they took the lamb, the Passover lamb, he says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. And this is what Easter is about really. We should use the term Passover more correctly.

But he says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. And ultimately it was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross. It was so God, when he saw the blood applied over our life, he would pass over us.

We would not be judged for our sins because our sins were judged on the cross there at Calvary in Jesus Christ. He became sin for us. So it's a message of redemption by the blood. And so he comes to set us free.

I was thinking again how Jesus Christ, when he stood up in the synagogue and he read the scriptures, he read from Isaiah. He read from Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2. And he says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He is talking about a spiritual release of captives.

The greatest captivity is when your spirit is captive, when your soul is captive. And even as a Christian, you may have something that is binding you and you're not really free in Christ to let Christ live in your life.

You may have a habit or a doctrine or something that is pinching you in and binding you in and you're hung up on that one thing. And you're not free. Christ has come to set us free. Christ redeems us from the penalty of death and from the power of death.

He just sets us free. Romans 6, verse 23 says, the wages of sin is death. If you continue on it, it leads to death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That's a redemption, a release to freedom by blood, redemption by blood and also by power. And here we see when God takes two to three million people and takes them out of Egypt, leads them into the wilderness and then to the promised land, that is power.

So he redeems them by physical power also. There's a lesson there and that is that when Christ delivers us from our sins, when we are set free, when we receive him as our Savior, he is able to keep us free.

And if we go back to any bondage, it's our fault, not his. Paul said, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. So, they're going to have a physical release along with a spiritual release.

And Christ can do that today and we're learning these lessons. One of the things that we fail to do, many times when we have something in our life that is binding and pinching us down, is that we just fail to ask God.

We just fail to ask God. We'll struggle, we'll go around, it's a very simple thing. But Jesus said, asking it shall be given unto you, seeking you shall find, knocking it shall be opened unto you. We just fail to do it.

The Exodus as Freedom from Bondage

Now the key verse for Exodus, we're trying to break out of our introductory remarks, and today we will. But the key verse, I think, is in chapter 20, in verse 2. And if you know anything about Exodus, in chapter 20, that's where the law is.

You know that? The Ten Commandments, the heart of the law. In that verse, he says, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. When you know Christ as your Savior, you have entered out of the house of bondage into the land of the free.

If you're free in your spirit, then there's nothing that can bind you. Now, last time we saw God about abort Pharaoh's abortion attempt. Remember, he tried to get all the babies killed, and God aborted his abortion attempt.

And it wouldn't work. So they went to try and throw the babies in the river. And I got to thinking about that. I don't even think that really worked either. How many of you mothers would take your baby and go throw them in the river?

Just because the king said to. I don't think very many of you would. You'd give your life before that. So I just, I believe Pharaoh was just really getting, he's up against a wall here. He's batting his head against the bricks.

He's not able to beat God in it. But that's the setup. Now, we learned then that Moses, mother and father, they bucked the system. They were not going to do it. And they tried to keep them hid after three months.

But after three months, they realized they had to do something. And so the something was the best thing they could come up with. As God led them, they prayed for direction. They said, I know, we'll put them in a basket and we'll put them in the river.

We'll see what God will do. They ultimately had to come to that point to where they just had to commit their problem to God to see what He would do. And so they put the problem in the basket, put their basket in the river.

But ultimately, they were just putting the problem in God's hands and seeing what He would do. Now, we're going to look today at the training of Moses. Last week, we saw the birth of Moses. But today, we're going to look at the training of Moses.

Moses's Training at Home, in Egypt, and in the Desert

The training of Moses was basically in three areas. At home, in the world, and in the desert. At home is what we're going to focus on this morning. In the world, we won't spend much time. In the desert, we'll spend a little time there.

Alright, you're ready to go. First, the training of Moses at home. Now, I want to get into this and not delay too much because this is a basic element for survival. If our home does not survive, the family does not survive.

The God-Ordained Family and National Strength

The family unit is being destroyed today. Where we have one mother and one father and 20 kids. Or however many. One mother and one father is the way God ordained it back in the beginning in Genesis. When the Pharisees and scribes were having their divorce problems and everything.

They'd come to Jesus. What do we do about this and this? He says, go back to the beginning. In the beginning, this is the way God wants it. Well, Satan is destroying the basic family unit. Now, if he can destroy that, then he can destroy the nation.

And that's what he's after. He wants to destroy America because he knows the strength of America has been the home. And the strength of the home has been God. God has been the center of the home life.

So he's taken God out of the family and the family has fallen apart. Okay, now, in Exodus 2, 9 and 10, we're going to look at about all it says, except what it repeats in the New Testament, about the training of Moses.

Look in Exodus 2, 9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, for I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it, and the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.

And she called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. Now, in verse 10 it says,. And the child grew. That's about all we know about the training of Moses. And you're going to say, How can you get much out of that?

Well, you just wait. You can't believe how much I can get out of that. Well, maybe you can by now. But the training of Moses has been a fascinating area. Yesterday I was studying on it, and I just couldn't write down fast enough all the things the Lord was showing me.

And I was just reading this section and looking at things. There's just a lot of stuff. Now, I broke it down into two key areas. The training of Moses was in two key areas. The practical. They taught him some practical things, and then they taught him some principles.

The practical and the principles. Okay, in the practical. The practical has to do with this. Proverbs 22 .6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old he will not depart from it.

The Scripture says, You train up that child. As you train that child up and you see the way that he is developing, you help him develop in that area for God and for serving God and for knowing God. Maybe the child is going to be musically oriented.

Then you train that child in that way to glorify God in that area of his life. Or maybe he's mechanically oriented, or scholastically oriented, or whatever. But you train up that child in the way he is to go, and the way the Hebrews did it, they trained their children for a trade.

The mothers would train the girls to be housewives, to run the home, to be a godly mother. And the fathers would train the sons. They would take them and train them what they were doing. They would take them and they would show them.

They started at twelve. In the way they should go. And God was inculcated into every area of their life and their training. And it says, Then when they were old they would not depart from it. We try to mix that around and say that when they depart they'll come back.

That's not what it says. If they depart, maybe they'll come back. Maybe they won't. All right? The practical then, from that verse. Now there's three elements in the practical training I want to share with you.

Three practical areas. And I ought to share this with you too before I begin. You say, How did you get all of this stuff? Where did you find this stuff? I'll tell you where I found it. I found it. I found this stuff about the training of Moses by looking at Moses' life later on.

Isn't that true? You can usually tell how somebody has been trained in their childhood by looking at them now. Usually. Not always. Sometimes there's some changes. Some dramatic changes. And Christ is the dramatic change.

But as I studied Moses, as I looked at Moses' life, I could see things that they put into his life. And I'll show you. Three elements in the practical training. These three things. They gave him an education.

They gave him an example. And they gave him discipline. Now you've got to understand something. They did a lot in a short time. Do you know how long that they probably had Moses? Pharaoh's daughter said, You take this child and you keep him until he's weaned.

Maybe two to four years. Possibly six years. Because they used to nurse a longer time at that time. But probably two to four years she had this child to train. And his father had him. That's not a lot of time, is it?

Education Through Scripture and Daily Instruction

Alright? What about education? What did they do with education? And you've got this little baby. I believe that they pumped Scripture into that little baby. They taught him Scripture. They quoted Scripture.

And that child had memorized Scripture by the time he had left the home and he went back to the court. Deuteronomy 6 -7 was their principle. And they followed it to the T. They talked of the Word of God.

The Word says in Deuteronomy 6 -7, Thou shalt teach them diligently. I believe every moment they could they taught Moses about God and His Word. Teach them diligently unto thy children. And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.

When they're at the table they're talking. And when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. All the time they're teaching them Scripture.

We've only got so much time. And I tell you, God's been working on me on this passage. This passage is for me because I realize there's so much laxness. You know, I don't believe that they allowed any wasted time.

They didn't allow Moses to sit and waste some time in front of the T .V. Now, you have to take that, you know, as it comes up. You don't know what I'm talking about. Because they didn't have T .V. And of course, a two-year-old is not going to spend a lot of time there anyway.

Unless they want to put their old sticky fingers on the screen. You know, throw the knobs. Mess up your color. And all that thing they like to do. But they, you see what I'm saying? By the education, they had to be careful that they didn't let that child spend time getting things into his brain that would waste what they were doing.

A lot of the things that our children get today negates the Scripture that we gave them. It nullifies it. Learn a lot of Sesame Street, where that program breaks down and goes against Scriptural principles.

Your child will be broke down. We need to learn that what we let them take in will either build them up or destroy principles. And for that reason, we should evaluate cartoons. We should evaluate programs and see if humanism is being taught there in that program.

Parental Example and the Formation of Character

Okay, now another thing is example. They say that 50 of attitudes are learned by the age of three. You got a bad attitude? Well, if you're 50, you've had it a long time then. You know? 50 of attitudes.

So their example was teaching Moses attitudes. They watched. I just wonder if one of his parents didn't have a bad temper. And we'll get into it later. And I'll tell you why. Because Moses had a problem in that area.

And it comes over into this last area of discipline. But 90 of our habits are formed by the age of 20. So as Moses watched Mom and Dad, his little eyes were taken in. The computer was recording the example that he saw.

Okay? I don't think they could afford to live but one way before Moses, and that was godly. And they realized that. They really had to watch it. They believed the future hung on Moses. They believed that Moses was going to be the deliverer.

God had spoke to them. And this child that they had and had such a short time, their whole future hung on him. So they were really pouring it into him. What about our future in America? It's in our youth, isn't it?

But we're letting them slide too much. And they're sliding the waves of the world. How many of our children in here are being encouraged to think about going into missions? Giving their life totally for the Lord, whatever area.

But no, it's almost all nowadays for getting an education so you can make money and be miserable like everybody else with your money. And if you get it, then you can make other people miserable. But they didn't waste time, I don't believe.

Their future was too critical. And I don't believe they were dragging Moses off to things by dragging him off to watch a movie and things like that. We learn from our parents and things, but we've got to critique our lifestyle.

If we're going to have little ones following us, they're going to follow our example. You know, we come along, now listen, Junior, you do as I say, not as I do. Well, Junior's not going to do as you say.

Junior's going to do as you do. So if you're a thief and you try to cheat and steal and lie in your little particular ways where you think you're getting away with it, Junior's going to do the same thing.

He's watching. He's listening. Now, Proverbs 4 .23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. I did a little study on that word issues. That's the word for outgoing or outcome.

You keep your heart very carefully because out of your life is going to come what you put in. The outcome comes from the income. And so as that little child watches me and watches you, example, that goes into them and it's going to come out.

You know, little Junior's a terror? Well, look over there. Mom or Dad may be a terror too. They may be an older, more refined terror, but they have their particular ways of throwing their temper tantrum if they don't get their way.

This is why there's a lot of problems in churches today with splits and things. Just because Junior has Mom and Dad that never was disciplined. That's the third area. Discipline. Discipline deals with one main thing.

Discipline as Training in Obedience

What is it? Obedience. It just sweeps all the way across. The whole thing on this area is obedience. If they don't learn this one, it results in rebellion. And I think Moses, if he had one major flaw in his life, it was this area of discipline.

And it got him into trouble. And we'll see a lot of tremendous things about Moses, but if you'll really get down to it, it should break your heart when you see that he wanted to get into the promised land so bad and he couldn't get in because he was disobedient to God.

If our children are not obedient to us, they will not be obedient to God. We can't fool ourselves. That's the principle of obedience. We discipline them so they will learn to obey God. That's the ultimate principle of obedience.

We have a lot of rebellion because we do not insist on them being obedient. We should give them a lot of praise and reward for obedience, but disobedience should really have a strong effect too. Now, not only did they teach Moses in the practical, but they also taught him in the area of principles.

Three Principles for Godly Living

And there were three of them also. Not only was the three practical, and the three practical were education, example, and discipline, but they gave him three major principles to follow. Three major principles.

Now, these I find back over in Hebrews again. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 11. We went there last week and we looked at the birth of Moses and now we're going to go here and look at the training of Moses to find out what kind of principles they taught him.

And this is hard to believe that they could do this much in Moses' life, but I believe they did it. And the only other explanation for Moses coming out so well, for coming out so good, is the possibility that they got to keep Moses longer than we think that he might have stayed.

It might have been a possibility that he got to stay around home longer than two to four years. Maybe even up into his teenage years or something. That's the only explanation I would be able to give for such a tremendous training that Moses had in such a short time.

But, Hebrews 11, 23, and 24. Let's start with 24. It says, By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming or valuing the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Three principles. Here they are. In verse 24, first principle, Moses, we're going to teach you what to refuse. Verse 25, Moses, we're going to teach you what to choose.

And then verse 26, so it'll rhyme, Moses, we're going to teach you what to lose. Or value. Value doesn't rhyme with refuse and choose, so I had to put lose in there. But there's some things you need to just let go.

It has no value to you. Moses. So you learn. There are certain things you better refuse. If it knocks on your door, say, no, not interested. And then slam the door. And there are certain things when it comes along and it says, here, you better choose it.

And if there are certain things that come along that says, listen, I am of no value to you, then Moses, don't put your time in there. Don't waste your time there. Don't put your money into that area. And there are certain things that are valuable.

Moses, sell everything you can and get it. Invest all you have for that which is valuable. Now, let's look at it. What to refuse. Verse 24. By faith, when Moses was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

Refusing Worldly Position and Power

Now, what's this? Refuse evil. What was the evil? The evil was position in the world. Because of the principles he's been taught, he learned that it was better to turn down this position in the world to be Pharaoh.

Because in Moses' mind, in his heart, he knew that God was going to use him to deliver Israel out of bondage. But he did not think it was going to be by being a Pharaoh because of the values, the principles, the things that his mom and dad had taught him.

Now, if he had not been taught those things, he'd say, hey, this is the way to go. I'll be Pharaoh. Everybody listen to me. I'll get my people free. It wouldn't work like that in Egypt. Because of the political setup, he would have just had it, he'd got his noose cooked just like that.

It wouldn't work. But so he knew that much at least because of these principles. You know, rank has its privilege. Take it. Boy, what an opportunity to make an advancement. Rank has its privilege. But rank also has its cost.

How many dads have ruined their families because of an advancement and position in the world and they moved their family out of a good church into a locality where there was not a good church? I can share with you a real personal story of how this principle of going for advancement in the world destroyed a whole family.

And there's many stories on it. I can share many of them with you. But rank has its privilege. But rank also has its price. And he turned his back on rank. I was thinking of a verse back over in 1 Timothy 6.

It says, For the love of money, we could say the love of power even, but the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith. This would have been a key point.

He could have turned and turned from the faith. And through this, they've pierced themselves through with many sorrows. This principle of what to refuse, he learned he better refuse this position in the world.

Choosing Affliction with God's People

And then what to choose? Verse 25. What to choose? He says it's better to choose affliction than pleasure. Notice. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

When Moses came to 40 years of age, and next week maybe I'll give you a little bit more on the background on this. But he was offered the kingdom. He was offered the position of Pharaoh at least three times from history we know.

In that setting. But when he came to 40 years of age, he turned his back on it for the last time and says, no, I'd rather identify with the children of God than identify with the children of Satan. It's better to be afflicted with the children of God than to have the pleasures of sin for a season.

His mom and dad had taught him this principle. It's an amazing principle of what to choose just in our decisions. Fellowship with God's children are pleasure in the world. Let's go to church. Today it's Sunday.

No, let's go water skiing. Hey, that sounds like a lot of fun. Let's go. They made a choice. They made that choice and it was a wrong choice because the principle was not instilled in the child's mind.

Now there's some other things with that. There's a time for fun. And there's a time for fellowship. Satan says let's have fun when it's time to fellowship. God says let's have fellowship when it's time for fellowship and then let's have fun when it's time to fun.

Have fun. I like to water ski. Invite me. Let's see. But you won't get me there Sunday, especially Sunday morning when we're having a service or Wednesday night because I haven't taught some principles since I was a little bitty kid.

And I haven't departed from them. It's an amazing thing. I would have normally accepted my folks taught me these principles. And I'm so glad they did because if they had not taught me these principles I would not be where I am today.

I would not know the Word of God. I would not have chose to go the route of knowing the Word of God. It's sin or fun. Fun's for a moment. Fellowship is for eternity. These different things. Here's something else now.

Valuing Christ Above Earthly Treasures

The third thing of what to value. Not only what to refuse and what to choose. But Moses, we want to teach you this principle here of what to value. There are certain things you need to value. There are certain things that are of tremendous value.

And Jesus taught us these principles too. We don't have time to get into it. But He says, here's what to value. Value Christ. And anything associated with Christ, you value that. Isn't that what He did?

Esteeming the reproach of who? Christ. He said, I'd rather identify with Christ and be a slave than be the Pharaoh of Egypt. Ah, boy, they had taught him a key principle of what to value. He was taught to make eternity decisions.

Remember I mentioned to that? Make a decision on the basis of how is it going to affect you or your family in relation to eternity. What a tremendous principle. Moses was taught to make eternity decisions.

Is it worth it to run with the crowd, Moses? They'd teach him as they had that little baby. How they did it, I don't know. This is why I'm beginning to wonder if they didn't have him a little bit longer.

They did an amazing job. Is it worth it to run with a crowd that's going to hell? Is it worth it to put your time in there? Put your time in with Christ and His crowd. And so when he got up and he had to make the choice, he didn't hesitate.

I'm going with Christ. I'm going with His crowd. I'm going with my people. I'm going to stick with my people even if it means death. So he gave up his position. You know, I was studying this. It's an interesting thing.

He gave up, when he turned his back on being Pharaoh, he gave up three things. He gave up these three things. He gave up self-preservation. He gave up self-protection. And he gave up self-position.

This is good. He gave up self-preservation in that who's going to provide for you? You know, ultimately, he had to run off out in the desert and hide because the other guys got mad at him, the Pharaoh.

When he killed that Egyptian, we'll get into that too next week or so. But his self-preservation. Who's going to take care of you? Who's going to take care of your basic needs? Man, you can have all the T-bone steaks you want as Pharaoh.

You know, without the T-bone. What about your protection? Your power? That's the area of power. You turn about that, who's going to protect you? You identify with these slaves, who's going to protect you?

And then what about your position? Well, with this position, you can travel. Your travel agencies, you've got a hundred travel agencies. Pleasure! You're not going to have any fun with Christians. You're not going to have any fun, Moses, identifying with those Israelites.

You see? They really instilled into him a tremendous principle when they taught Moses what to value. And the scripture says that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy pleasures for sin for a season.

The day is coming, and maybe not too far off to where we're going to have to make decisions of who we're going to identify with. Christ and his church or this world, as persecution will come in. And I hope it doesn't come.

But the signs are coming. Do you know that the temptation that Jesus received from Satan in Matthew 4 and those passages, did you know that the temptation that Jesus received from Satan was these same three areas?

Have you ever thought about it? Hey, you're going to starve to death. I want you to turn these stones into some bread. That's that principle. Let God provide versus self-preservation. Moses learned, well, I'll just let God provide.